Digipak Designs

Digipak Initial Design

Initial Design - Front Sleeve
This is an initial design for the outer sleeve for
my Digipak.
Obviously, this isnt the final font design I will
use
In addition, the textured white background was
only quickly found on google images and I will
spend more time focusing on getting a
professional background to my outer sleeve
The letters that spell out Samuel Ford and Kings
will be cut out when produced and a thin sheet
of transparent plastic will be placed in the inside
of the sleeve. This will act as a window for the
audience to see through the cut out letters and
see the photograph of the on the front panel.
Idea development Front of
Sleeve
Final Design
Front Sleeve
Since my initial design, I have made a number of changes to its
appearance.
I have added the custom font, Couture, which I found online.
I have changed the textured background to give it a less artificial, and
a more sophisticated, appearance.
I have also decided to change the front panel of my jewel case. The
background of the letters have changed from the woodland photo to
this photo of a sunset across a field. This is because it has more
interesting lighting/ composition and reflects the emotive nature of
this genre better.
I played very close attention to the positioning of the text, using
rulers to ensure the line is central, equally spaced between Kings
and Samuel Ford and is the exact length of both of the phrases. This
gives my design a more professional look and avoids any awkward,
off centre, composition.
I moved down the cut out letters, and line, to the bottom of the panel
because this is where the interesting lighting is and the focal point of
the background photo. The window through to the front panel
therefore clearly shows a sunset and illuminates the letters
interestingly,
It is almost certain that this is the panel I have developed and evolved
the most. This is because it is the front cover of the entire digipak and
is very important in terms of representing the artist and marketing the
album. It is crucial to get this right and ensure it is as aesthetically
pleasing as possible.
Initial Design - Front Panel

Once the audience remove the outer

sleeve, they will be greeted with a
photograph of woodland that we took
at Wells-next-the-sea.
In the future, I may add something to
this panel because it is the front of the
album and may not suit being left
blank.
Idea Development Front Panel
Final Design Front Panel
This front panel will be what the user first sees when
they remove the outer sleeve.
I took this photograph during a recent trip to the
coast, where during a walk, I captured the colourful
sun set from across a field. I decided to replace the
photograph on the front panel with this because, as
previously mentioned, it is more aesthetically
pleasing overall and reflects the nature of the genre
better.
I explored with the image adjust tools on Adobe
Photoshop to create a more emotive, filtered and
tonal appearance. For example, increasing the
contrast produced a richer, bolder look as well as
making the panel more aesthetically pleasing in
general.
I have added the logo for our artist and the name of
the album in the corner. This is because if the sleeve
is damaged or lost, the front panel of the jewel case
can still act as a Digipak for the artist.
Initial Design Inside Left panel
The inside left panel offers a reference to
the music video for Kings that we have
produced.
It features a photograph of the beach hut
that was the location for the two
characters, Samuel and Lucy, to meet up
at the end.
Again, I may add something here,
perhaps a lyric/ information booklet or a
certain quote from one of the albums
songs.
Idea Development Inside Left
panel
Final Design Inside Left Panel
The inside-left panel hasnt changed/
developed as much as the other
panels.
It still mainly acts as a clear homage
to our music video production.
However, I have added a text layer
with a quote from the lyrics to the
albums main track Kings. In the
chorus, Ford sings Live like we
ought to, live like were born to, live
like were all of us Kings. It is the
hook line of the song and when
isolated, acts as a poignant,
inspirational message to our artists
audience.
Initial Design Inside Right panel
(disc)
The inside right panel similarly offers an
homage to the music video for kings
with the row of huts along the beach
In addition, I have added the name of
the album title (again not in the final
font) and a logo for the artist.
Idea Development inside-right
Panel (disc)
Final Design Inside Right Panel/ Disc
The inside right panel and the disc has had some
development to it, but still however, mainly
features the beach huts.
The image has been zoomed out and Ive added
the track listings on one side.
The Samuel Ford logo has been changed to white
to stand out better on the darker bottom half of
the image.
Overall, I think the disc and the right inside panel,
overall look very professional and Im happy with
the result.
Initial Design
- Back Panel The back panel of my Digipak features a
photograph we took from behind our beach
hut.
Taking inspiration from similar album covers
from within our genre, it suitably represents
the back of an album.
In addition, I used one of the photographs of
the blue sky we took and used the magic wand
tool on Photoshop to cut out the beach huts
and place it in front of the blue background.
This gives the impression that the photograph
was taken on a sunny day, which in fact it
wasn't.
The dominant blue sky in the top halve of the
panel also suits the genre because artists
similar to ours often use the colour blue in the
digipak reflecting the emotive and natural
feel of the genre.
Idea Development Back Panel
Final Design Back Panel

Since my initial design, I have put a copy of the track listings

onto the back panel of the jewel case. These include the 4 th
track, way home, which was a track I made up, inspired by a
song title from an inspiratory artist, Edward Sharpe and the
Magnetic Zeros Home.
One of the biggest problems when constructing this final
panel was removing the black vent at the top of the hut. As I
was rather inexperienced with Photoshop, I found it very hard
to find a way of seamlessly removing it, ensuring it still looks
un-tampered with. Eventually I used a combination of the
rubber tool and the clone stamp tool to mask over the vent
with the blue wood panel texture. I am very pleased with how
this has turned out because I believe it looks unnoticeable,
which was something I tried very hard to achieve.
In addition, I have added a richer, blue gradient to act as the
background sky. This gives the panel a more aesthetically
pleasing appearance as the colour pallet is less pale.
Initial Design - Back Sleeve
The back panel of the outer sleeve of this initial design
again features the white textured background
If I end up physically producing this design, I will use a
thick card to increase the digipaks durability. The overall
appearance will then be similar to what I have designed
here.
In addition, I have included a track list and their lengths.
All the songs are actual songs from our artist except the
4th track Way Home. This track was made up to fill out
the album and it acts as an inter textual reference to
Edward Sharpe and the Magnetic Zeroes Home, a track
very similar to the work of our artist.
In addition, I have used the magic wand tool to cut out a
barcode from google images and put it on the back panel.
This gives my digipak a more professional appearance.
Furthermore, I plan to include other small print/ logos on
the back of my final design to ensure my production
doesnt look amateur.
Idea development Back Sleeve
Final Design Back of Sleeve
I have added the same revised texture on the
front of the sleeve to the back.
In addition, I have added a barcode and some
small print to give the overall design a more
professional look.
Furthermore, I have included the artists logo to
consolidate the digipak as a whole.
I chose to add the logo for communion records,
as well, because they have several artists in a
similar genre to our own, signed to their label.
For example, Ben Howard, Edward Sharpe and
the Magnetic Zeros and Matt Corby, all of
which acting as inspiration for a digipak. Not
only does the Communion Records logo
consolidate the genre of our artist it adds a
more professional appearance to the album
artwork something very important for an up
and coming artist like Samuel Ford.
Digipak Final Design
Magazine advert ideas
Design 1 The first design for my magazine advert features a
There are
photograph of the beach hut, on the textured background several features
In addition, the predominant features also include Kings that would
and Samuel Ford. This is because at a glance, the prove beneficial
audience will immediately know who the poster is
advertising. for advertising
The beach hut, known from our music video, also helps to the album/
construct an immediate impression of the artist this is artist
advertising.
It is consistent
There are several reviews on the left hand side, with an
emphasis on the starred ratings to encourage a passer
with the overall
by/ reader to investigate this acclaimed album. design of the
In bold, there is the release date and a sentence Digipak and
underneath the photograph advertises which tracks can music video
be found on this album. These happen to be the tracks
with the most listens on Spotify, so it is likely these are X A common
the three most popular. Advertising some of the included feature of
tracks is common amongst magazine adverts for music
artists because it encourages a lover of those songs to magazine
purchase the album adverts for
Along the bottom, there are several logos, advertising music artists is
where to find Samuel Fords work. These are, from left to
right: ITunes, Soundcloud, Spotify, a link to Samuel fords
that they are
website, Twitter, Facebook, Communion records and just larger
Fords logo. These would help build up the audience base versions of the
of our artist but also advertise where to electronically
download/ listen to these tracks which is becoming a front panel of
more and more popular method of sharing music over the their albums,
past decade.
which this is
not.
 X The colour
palette is
Design 2 This second design offers a slightly more simplistic
appearance
relatively plain
and the poster
There are not any reviews and the logos have been doesnt stand
reduced in size and changed to white to blend in out very much
more and maintain consistency.
X The simplistic
Samuel Ford, Kings and 23-05-17 are the 3
design also
largest components on the poster which give a
passer by the key information: the artist, the eliminates any
album name and the release date. reviews/ ratings
that may entice
a reader to
To someone who just glances at the poster,
they can gather the key advertising purchase the
information. album
X Similarly, there
When my digipak design heavily featured
is no list of
this forest photo it was consistent with the
popular songs
overall design of the Digipak and music
video and it did act as a larger version of that can be
the front panel found on the
album. Again
It is less crowded and as a result, more
this could lead
sophisticated.
to an audience
member not
wanting to buy
 This final design features a background made up of the image used on the front panel of my

Design 3
digipak. Similarly to the last design, space is left to ensure the audience can see the image
without any writing covering it. In this case, special attention was made so the interesting
lighting of the photograph wasn't inhibited.
Again the largest components are Kings and Samuel Ford. However, I have separated, the
third key component, the release date, to the bottom. Here, the white text and larger font
size heavily stand out amongst the darker, bottom half of the poster. This ensures that when
the audience scan down the advert, they are certainly drawn in to the release date.
I have managed to fit in the reviews from design 1, without it looking too crowded, by
shortening them to headlines. This will entice the reader to investigate what this acclaimed
album is.
In addition, the famous track listings have been included as well as the small, all white logos
along the bottom. I avoided including the communion logo because I believed it to be an
unnecessary addition that only served to be a bold eye drawing component that took up
space and diverted the reader away from the more important components of the poster.

Again, if there is someone who just glances at the poster, they will gather the
key advertising information.
There are several features that provide all the relevant advertising information
as well as promoting the different ways to interact with the music of an up and
coming artist
It consolidates the print productions as a whole because it is consistent with my
digipak and is simply a larger version of the front panel.
The fact that It is less crowded allows the audience member to see the full,
interesting, sunset photograph which is likely to draw them into reading the
poster.
All the faults from previous poster designs have been corrected and I believe
this is the design I will submit.
Final Magazine Idea development

Reduced the size of quotes so they arent

Changed all logos to white to add
overbearing and are simple for the audience to
consistency and sophistication
read quickly/ at a glance.
YouTube video Thumbnail
I have also decided to
create a thumbnail for the
uploaded music video on
YouTube. This gives the
music video a very
professional appearance
when audience members
search for the track on
YouTube. I took the sunset
image, associated with my
print productions, and
added Samuel Ford and
Kings.